Oliver Attends his First Kansas City Royals Bark at the Park Game and All is Fine

Oliver Tailgating and Ready

We have been talking about taking Oliver to Bark at the Park at the Kansas City Royals games since he was a puppy. We have never done so until this past Tuesday. I saw the date advertised a few times early in the season and we started talking about taking Oliver to his first game. Plus, it would be the first time in two years that Carrie and I would attend a game. We got it booked and planned out the night. 

It was a great time! So many dogs... I later heard there were around 900 dogs in the stadium. Oliver did really good. He barked and growled a few times in the line leading up to the gates. Once we got to our seats, he was fine until about the middle innings. Then he started sitting and growling at other dogs as they would walk by or he could see them in the stands.  Carrie took him up to the top to do his business and when he came back, he was a perfect little gentleman. 

Oliver meets Sluggerrr

Oliver met Sluggerrr at the game. We tried to get the attention of Sluggerrr as he was right next to us, but were unable to get his attention to hold Oliver to get a picture. At one point, they played "The Circle of Life" from The Lion King and in this case, Sluggerrr held up dogs on the jumbotron. It was funny although I think if that would have been Oliver, he would have been scared. 

It happened to be $1 hotdog night, so we had hot dogs for dinner. Oliver had a few bites of hotdog. We noticed some other dogs where that was their meal for the night with meat only and no bun. It was funny to watch all the different dogs and interactions.

The Royals snapped a three-game losing streak, so that was fun. We talked after the game on the way home, with a sleepy Oliver, that this might be a once-a-year thing. I really did not watch any of the first 1 - 4 innings as anxious about Oliver being good and trying to make sure he was not causing issues. 

While there were 900 something dogs there that night, there were not a lot of fans. The Royals playing well and scoring caused a few times when there were loud cheers, yelling, etc., and Oliver did not like that too much. He would coward and slink into the chair or our arms. He did great overall.

Oliver Cheering for his Royals

I think Oliver had a great time. He had a lot of things to see that were new to him. A lot of things to sniff that were different. He behaved well for the most part. He made people around us laugh at his low growling in the middle innings. He met some people that had previously owned a Japanese Chin and remembered his name each time they walked by our row saying "Hi Oliver". Nothing traumatic happened and for that I am grateful. The anxiety levels for both Carrie and I as we were headed to the game were at high levels. It went well.

Since that game, the Royals have been doing very well. Fun to watch and now Oliver has a little extra something to connect with when we are watching at home. As for Carrie and I, we plan to make it to another 2 - 5 games through the season. I cannot wait!

Until next time, have a great rest of the weekend!